Disputations makes the interesting point that, "this is true, of course, yet though in a sense St. Francis of Assisi rebuilt the Church, the gilt of Thirteenth Century Christendom comes off pretty quickly once you start examining it. It's not the personal holiness of one or even several saints that revives the Church -- nor, for that matter is a revived Church free of crisis."
Amy recently questioned the strength of 50s Catholicism, given its swift collapse in the 60s, but if St. Francis couldn't hold the 13th century one can scarcely expect the leading lights of Catholicism in the 50s to hold the fort for long. Holiness is personal, and appears in some ways non-transferable. I think it was Chesterton who said that a new barbarian invasion occurs every generation - in the form of children.
No comments:
Post a Comment